


Lost Episode: Island of the Dolls

by Brumeier



Series: Unexpected Discoveries 'Verse [15]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dolls, Established Relationship, Friendship, Ghost Hunters, M/M, Reality TV, Spiders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:47:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25786849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brumeier/pseuds/Brumeier
Summary: The Mysterious Unknown team's investigation has taken them to Mexico City, and the creepy Island of the Dolls. Will they make contact with the spirits that allegedly reside there, or just the resident spiders?
Relationships: Rodney McKay/John Sheppard
Series: Unexpected Discoveries 'Verse [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/332389
Comments: 23
Kudos: 48





	Lost Episode: Island of the Dolls

“You have five minutes for breakfast,” Evan said when John and Rodney turned up on the veranda.

“Just point me in the direction of the coffee,” Rodney replied blearily.

They’d arrived in Mexico City late the night before, and had a full day of filming ahead. Interviews with eyewitnesses and the expert on local history, some shots in the market, and then the _trajinera_ ride down the canal to the island which would be the focus of the after dark investigation.

John was still tired, but he was excited to explore the city and surrounding area.

He grabbed a typical MU breakfast: eggs and bacon folded into a piece of bread, making it easily portable. Rodney managed to chug down two cups of coffee in just five minutes and was noticeably perkier by the time he drained the second cup.

“Where’s Kyle?” Rodney asked.

“Making sure the cars are ready,” Laura replied. She was clearing her plate with single-minded efficiency.

“We’re on schedule for once,” Evan said. “Let’s see if we can keep it that way.”

Rodney snorted. “Good fucking luck with that.”

He wasn’t wrong. The expert had scheduled something else for the time he was supposed to meet with Kyle, so they had to rearrange the other interviews. It put them behind. When they stopped by the market to purchase a doll to bring to the island as an offering, Ronon wandered off and it took them a good twenty minutes to track him down. He was jamming with a mariachi band, and John made sure to get some good footage of that.

“Let’s roll out, guys,” Kyle said, checking his watch and scowling.

It was about a fifteen-mile drive to the Xochimilco canals. John used that time to study a map of Isla de las Muñecas, which Kyle had marked up with the filming plan for the investigation.

“I’d like to go on record as saying this is stupid,” Rodney said.

“Wouldn’t be an investigation without you going on record,” Kyle replied dryly.

“We’re investigating dolls!”

“Creepy haunted dolls,” John added helpfully.

He liked to joke about it, but ever since the ghostly encounter he’d had in Turkey, he was a lot more apprehensive about the paranormal investigations. And really, dolls? They were creepy without even trying. From what Teyla had told them at the initial briefing for the investigation, these particular dolls were trying extra hard.

“You’re not funny,” Rodney snapped.

John leaned over and murmured in Rodney’s ear. “Clear blue skies.” And then pressed a kiss to the side of his head.

Rodney’s mouth trembled as he struggled to maintain his scowl.

There was yet another delay when it was time to engage a _trajinera_ , one of the boats that traversed the canals. Very few of them would take passengers to the island, and Kyle had to do some wheeling and dealing with Evan acting as translator.

John sat at the end of the boat, filming their progress along the canal. It was a two-hour trip, during which the crew took the opportunity to eat the food they’d brought along. It was a gourmet meal of peanut butter, Power Bars, and jerky. 

“How goes the research, Rodney?” Laura asked, licking peanut butter off a plastic spoon. “You still thinking the Black Sea?”

“What research?” John asked, setting the camera aside.

Rodney looked cagey. “I’m not prepared to discuss it.”

“That would be a change,” Kyle remarked. “Rodney’s been working on locating the lost city of Atlantis for the last year or so.”

“Really?”

John couldn’t help feeling surprised. Rodney was a pretty fervent skeptic most of the time, and Atlantis was a pretty big mythology to believe in.

“There’s a lot of evidence that points to its existence,” Rodney grumbled.

“That’s right,” Evan said. “I read something recently that said Atlantis is the reason for all the mysterious happenings in the Bermuda Triangle.”

Ronon looked intrigued. “You mean Aquaman is stealing all the boats?”

“Oh, please.” Rodney scowled. “This isn’t a Saturday morning cartoon. Atlantis was an actual island that was destroyed due to tectonics. There’s nothing mystical or cartoony about it.”

“So where is it?” John asked, curious. 

If Rodney believed in something, he undoubtedly had done his research and had the science to back up his claims. 

“I can tell you it’s not in the Bermuda-fucking-Triangle. According to my research, probability is high that the city is in the Med –” Rodney’s mouth snapped shut. “It’s not in the Atlantic.”

“Nice save,” John said, grinning.

They moved on, playing a few games Would You Rather and dice, and Rodney continued to complain about the stupidity of investigating dolls. Until they finally got to the island.

“Oh, no,” he said in dismay.

The rickety-looking dock had a line of dolls hanging over it in various states of decay. Some were missing limbs, they were dirty and raggedy, and there were thick spiderwebs stretched between and over them.

“Well, that’s terrifying,” Laura said.

“Just imagine it at night,” Ronon replied a bit too gleefully.

John could imagine it all too well. He suspected the Island of the Dolls investigation was going to make his list of least favorites.

They unloaded their gear and got set up. Trap cameras, infrared cameras, POV cameras. The dolls were everywhere, tacked to trees and hanging from ropes and wires. Sometimes it was just an eyeless head, the plastic skin damaged from the sun. John felt like they were watching his every move.

While Rodney set up base camp, Evan moved around the island getting establishing shots and John filmed Kyle’s monologue.

“I’m here at Isla de las Muñecas, the Island of the Dolls, just south of Mexico City. According to legend, former caretaker Don Julian found a girl in the canal, presumably drowned. Shortly after he pulled her out, he also found a doll. Assuming it belonged to the girl, Don Julian hung the doll from a tree as a way to pay respects to the girl.

“No-one can know for sure what was on Don Julian’s mind, but shortly after he hung that first doll, he started collecting more and hanging them up all over the island. Fifty years after pulling the girl from the canal, Don Julian himself was found drowned in the same spot. 

“Locals say the dolls are possessed by the spirit of the dead girl, and that Don Julian’s spirit has joined her here. Tonight, the MU team will try to make contact.”

Kyle finished up his monologue and gave himself a shake.

“You okay?” John asked.

“I felt like those damn dolls were staring at me the whole time.” Kyle took a deep breath. “Okay. Let’s get footage of me leaving the doll down by the water.”

It was absurd, but John filmed the doll they’d bought at the market being solemnly left in tribute on the bank of the canal, and then they headed back to base camp. The sun was rapidly setting, and the growing shadows started playing tricks with John’s eyes, some of the dolls seeming to move.

“Okay,” Laura said, “if Rodney hasn’t already gone on record, can I just say this is the creepiest place we’ve ever been, and I’d like to go home?”

“Yes, noted, the dolls are creepy,” Kyle said. “We all agree on that. Ronon, you and Evan do a perimeter sweep. John, I want to do an EVP session inside the shack.”

“What about me?” Laura asked.

“You can keep Rodney company at base camp.”

“Yes!” Laura slung an arm around Rodney’s shoulders. “You and me against the dolls, McKay.”

“Wonderful,” Rodney replied with an eyeroll. John suspected he was secretly glad for the company.

There were several structures on the island, including a very rustic bar. John didn’t know what the intended purpose of the shack was, but it too was full of dolls. Including, according to the new caretaker, who was also Don Julian’s nephew, the original doll.

Kyle had a POV camera on, and John filmed from outside, through one of the glassless windows. Kyle made a circuit of the room, obviously creeped out by the inhabitants, before he sat on the floor and took out the digital recorder.

John was acutely aware of the vast number and size of the spider population, which was making his skin crawl more than the creepy dolls were.

He wasn’t sure how he felt about the EVP sessions. Sometimes when they enhanced the audio, it did sound like a disembodied voice was captured. But John could never make out what they were saying. How much was ambient noise, and how much was an actual communication from a disembodied spirit?

“Hello?” Kyle said. “Is there anyone in here with me? Can you give me some kind of sign?”

John wondered if a rat was sign, because he saw one skitter through the tiny pool of light created by Kyle’s camera.

“Is the spirit of the girl from the canal in here? Can you tell me how you died?”

John gave a start and a curse when he felt a feathery touch on his hand – _Not again! Not again!_ – and then cursed more when he saw it was just a spider.

“John? You okay?”

Kyle was on his feet and headed to the door. John felt like an idiot.

“Fine. Just a fucking spider.”

The island was crawling with the things, the dolls making excellent anchors for their multitude of webs. John was surprised Rodney hadn’t raised a complaint about them yet; he hated spiders.

Kyle came out of the shack. “I’m not getting anything anyway, unless heebie jeebies count.”

John had the camera trained on Kyle as a matter of course, so as he was saying, “It counts here”, he was also capturing the doll hanging next to Kyle’s head. And saw the moment one of its dirt-crusted eyes popped open.

“Fucking hell!” he cursed, taking a couple steps back.

“What? What is it?”

“That fucking doll just popped open an eye.”

Kyle poked at the doll in question, but the other eye stayed firmly shut, stiff nylon eyelashes caked in dirt and grime. 

“Please tell me you got that.”

“Yeah. I got it.”

_Base camp to Kyle._

“This is Kyle. What’s up, Rodney?”

_Are these spiders poisonous?_

“Why are you asking me? Ask the medic.”

_Ronon’s communing with the dolls_ , was the disgruntled reply.

“That doesn’t sound good,” John said.

_Did we bring a flamethrower?_

Kyle snorted. “I’ll be sure to add that to the list for next time, Rodney.”

John privately agreed that the whole island would be better off fire-bombed. Did people really come there to have a few beers and party? It was hardly a festive place to hang with friends, and John wasn’t excited that they were stuck there till the boat came in the morning.

_Movement!_ Laura burst in over the radio. _We’ve got movement, camera three!_

Kyle was already headed in that direction before he responded. “What kind of movement?”

_One of the dolls is swaying._

“That’s hardly noteworthy,” Kyle muttered.

“There’s no wind,” John pointed out.

_Only one doll is moving_ , Laura said.

John followed along behind Kyle, camera rolling. It was dark, there were a lot of the usual noises – bugs, rustling in the undergrowth – and a lot of plastic eyes glinting in the light from the camera. It was really disconcerting. John swore he could hear the sound of plastic brushing against plastic.

When they got to the area covered by camera three, they checked all the dolls but none of them was moving. Kyle was able to see for himself that it would be nearly impossible for one doll to sway and swing without disturbing the others tied to the same line of rope.

“Could something have jostled it?” Kyle wondered aloud. “An animal, maybe?”

“Without knocking into the others? Seems unlikely.”

John filmed the dolls, deranged trophies for a deranged mind. Maybe it was the island that was tainted, and not the dolls. Some force on the island that made Don Julian start hanging dolls everywhere in tribute to a dead girl no-one was sure even existed.

Rodney would have a caustically sarcastic response to that idea, John knew, which made him fight back a grin.

_Evan to Kyle._

“This is Kyle. Go ahead.”

_Ronon got bit by a spider. He didn’t see what kind._

“Jeez. Okay, head back to base camp. We’ll meet you there.”

“They should call this Spider Island,” John said.

“No kidding.” 

Kyle and John headed back to base camp, which was covered in a haze from the bug repellent Rodney had brought with him.

“Anyone got a gas mask?” Laura asked.

Rodney scowled at her. “You’d rather get bit by a poisonous spider?”

“We don’t know if they’re poisonous,” John said.

“Of course they’re poisonous! On this hellish island, why wouldn’t they be?”

Ronon and Evan joined them, Ronon holding one hand up to his chest. He didn’t look like he was experiencing any pain, but he could be a hard guy to read sometimes.

“Is it bad?” Laura asked, getting up to take a closer look while Rodney pulled out the medical kit.

“Hurts like a bastard,” Ronon said.

He cleaned it up and used a marker to draw a circle around it, so he could check later and see if the red, inflamed bite mark grew in size.

“Probably just a hobo spider,” he said. “Least toxic of the poisonous spiders.”

“I’m not sleeping here,” Rodney said. 

“You’d rather swim to another island?” Kyle checked his watch. “The boat won’t be back for us till dawn.”

“I hate this fucking job,” Rodney grumbled.

Kyle sighed, but before he could say anything, they all distinctly heard a very faint _mama_ coming from the direction of the doll shack.

The hairs on the back of John’s neck stood up. 

“Holy crap,” Laura whispered. “We’re in a horror movie.”

“Probably just a malfunctioning chip inside one of those talking dolls,” Rodney said, but John could tell he wasn’t convinced. 

“John and I will head back to the shack,” Kyle said. “Ronon, you and Evan can do an EVP session. Maybe down by the canal, where Don Julian found the dead girl.”

Rodney produced some DEET spray, which he made sure everyone used before they dispersed. John had no idea if it was effective against spiders, but he didn’t bother voicing that. If it made Rodney more at ease, it was a good thing. And he sure wouldn’t mind keeping the mosquitos at bay.

John noticed that the doll which had opened its eye earlier had closed it again. He gave it a wide berth.

“You wouldn’t think any of these dolls would still work, the ones that talk,” Kyle said. “Not after so long exposed to the elements.”

“Anything’s possible,” John replied, though he secretly agreed.

They did a sweep inside the shack, John slowly panning around looking for any movement among the dolls. His skin was literally crawling. He got a couple of starts when spiders skittered across doll faces, but otherwise there was nothing.

Kyle poked at a few of the dolls, trying to see if any would talk, but none of them did.

Nothing else noteworthy happened, so they reconvened at base camp and set up their tents. Rodney sprayed so much bug spray inside that John worried for the state of his lungs. He also had to do a thorough examination to make sure no spiders had snuck in with them before Rodney would unroll his sleeping bag.

“This has to be the worst place we’ve ever stayed,” Rodney grumbled.

He and John zipped their sleeping bags together, crawling in fully clothed. The proximity of the rest of the team, and the chemical stench of bug spray, wasn’t conducive to anything more than cuddling.

Despite Rodney’s assertions that he’d never be able to sleep, he dozed off almost immediately. It took John a little longer and, just before he fell asleep, he swore he heard it again. 

A child-like voice saying, “Mama.”

**Author's Note:**

>  **AN:** I’ve been binge-watching _Expedition Unknown_ and it’s spin-off, _Expedition X_ , and it made me want to write in this ‘verse again. Just when I think I’m out, they pull me back in! LOL! Both _Expedition X_ and Josh Gates’ original show, _Destination Truth_ , traveled to the Island of the Dolls, which is a real place people can go. And it’s been creepy every time.
> 
> I also discovered, when I decided on a rewatch of _Buzzfeed Unsolved: Supernatural_ after I started writing this, that Shane and Ryan visited the Island of the Dolls too, and they’re the ones who noted the gazillion spiders living there. Clearly the universe wanted me to write this fic. ::grins::


End file.
